(Deutsche Welle Chinese website) North Korea and South Korea are two countries that share a common history, language and a large amount of cultural heritage, but are opposed to each other. This story is not unfamiliar to Germans.
Germany itself was divided under rival regimes for decades, until changes in the geopolitical situation allowed East and West Germany to peacefully unify in 1990.
Just two years later, then-German Chancellor Helmut Kohl visited the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) on the Korean Peninsula and expressed the hope that North and South Korea could also achieve reunification by the end of the 1990s.
But this wish ultimately failed to come true. About 35 years after the reunification of Germany, North Korea and South Korea are still seriously opposed to each other on political systems, economic development, and geopolitical alignments.
Standing overlooking the Korean Peninsula's demilitarized zone on Friday, German Chancellor Mertz expressed almost the same wish that Kohl proposed in 1993.
Merz wrote on social media: "We Germans know how painful the division of the country is. We also know that as long as we stick to our values and have the courage to dialogue, it is possible to tear down the walls."
Mertz also said: "We wish that the people of the Korean Peninsula can achieve reunification in freedom."
For analysts who have long followed the political dynamics between North and South Korea, this sounds more like an unattainable dream.
Young Koreans: Unification? Why bother?
North and South Korea continue to guard each other across the demilitarized zone, with their vast differences in wealth levels and political freedoms clearly visible.
But perhaps the biggest problem is that neither North or South Korea seems to have shown any willingness to achieve reunification.
Choo Jae-woo, a professor of foreign policy at Kyung Hee University, said: "People's mentality has changed over the past two decades. In the eyes of young South Koreans, North Korea is just a neighboring country that is poor and full of threats. They do not have some emotional bond with North Korea like the older generation."
He added: "More and more people are asking, why bother thinking about unification?"
A survey released by the Institute for Peace and Reunification at Seoul National University in September showed that 39.1% of South Korean respondents believed that reunification was impossible. This is the highest proportion in the survey's roughly two decades of existence.
Many people worry that building infrastructure for North Korea will cost huge sums of money, including building roads, hospitals and schools, as well as various supporting facilities required for the normal functioning of modern society.
From an official stance, the South Korean government has not given up on the goal of national reunification. The Korean Constitution still advocates peaceful reunification based on freedom and democracy. However, Zhu Jae-woo pointed out that recent Korean governments have not promoted this concept as much as in the past.
North Korea sends clear signal against reunification
In contrast, North Korea's position on this issue is much clearer.
Zhu Zaiyou said: "In December 2023, Kim Jong-un announced that he would amend the constitution, and peaceful reunification is no longer possible. On the contrary, North Korea regards South Korea as a hostile country, and Kim Jong-un has no intention of pushing the two sides towards reunification."
North Korea's revised constitution was adopted in March 2026. Since then, Kim Jong-un's regime has become more radical, purging all references to reconciliation and national unity from the constitution.
"I think North Korea has made it very clear that it has no intention of getting closer to South Korea," said Mason Richey, a professor of political science and international relations at Hankuk University of Foreign Studies in Seoul.
He added that whenever the issue of reunification of the Korean peninsula is raised again, analysts, officials and even ordinary people in South Korea will start "rolling their eyes."
Rich pointed out that in addition to the lack of willingness on the part of North and South Korea to unify, there are many other challenges that need to be overcome.
The North Korean regime wants to maintain its power and prestige. If the reunified country introduces a democratic system, the power and status of the current North Korean regime will inevitably be threatened.
Rich said that bridging the huge economic development gap between North and South Korea will be an arduous project, and even if it can obtain external assistance, it will put great pressure on South Korea.
He pointed out that post-unification Germany has now achieved a balance between east and west in most areas, but it is worth noting that the development level of East Germany in 1990 was still much higher than that of North Korea today.
The reunification of the Korean Peninsula will bring major problems to China and the United States
According to statistics from the Bank of Korea in 2024, North Korea's nominal GDP is US$31.7 billion per year, while South Korea's is as high as US$1.85 trillion, which is 58 times that of North Korea. North Korea’s per capita GDP is only US$1,230, while South Korea’s is close to US$36,000.
Zhu Zaiyu also pointed out that the reunification of North and South Korea is not only an internal affairs issue. The two countries are attached to different camps in strategic and security areas: South Korea is aligned with the United States, while North Korea maintains close ties with China and increasingly turns to Russia.
Zhu Zaiyou told DW: "These major powers will not be willing to give up their allies in order to achieve the reunification of the Korean Peninsula, because reunification also involves major strategic issues for them. The United States will not want a unified Korea that will turn to China; if reunification means that the United States may deploy troops to China's border, which is today's North Korea, China will resist reunification. This is a situation that neither side can imagine."
He believes that, in the final analysis, the current status of the Korean Peninsula may not be perfect, but it is the best way to maintain regional stability.
However, he added: "Ten years from now, the economic, social and security situation may have changed dramatically. Therefore, we can never say nothing."
